Recommendations for taillight bulbs?

[holyc0w]

My taillight indicator came on and it looks like I need new stop light bulbs. What are some good options for the replacements?

[az3579]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Canbus-25W-210-Lumem-LED-CREE-XP-E-High-Power-1156-5008-Tail-Light-Bulb-Lamp-/231134019756?hash=item35d0a940ac:g:H0YAAOSwh6xTrly X&vxp=mtr

(Note: Recommend coding to eliminate cold/hot bulb checks to prevent flickering at startup - bulb out warning still works this way)

[nextelbuddy]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Canbus-25W-210-Lumem-LED-CREE-XP-E-High-Power-1156-5008-Tail-Light-Bulb-Lamp-/231134019756?hash=item35d0a940ac:g:H0YAAOSwh6xTrly X&vxp=mtr

(Note: Recommend coding to eliminate cold/hot bulb checks to prevent flickering at startup - bulb out warning still works this way)

awesome, what about corner light turn signal bulbs... i ant to get LED canbus types similar to these. what are the sizes?

[az3579]

awesome, what about corner light turn signal bulbs... i ant to get LED canbus types similar to these. what are the sizes?

Amber ones:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pc-Amber-Canbus-1156-7506-5007-Amber-CREE-High-Power-LED-Turn-Signal-Light-Bulb/331323045620?_trksid=p2045573.c100506.m3226&_trkparms=aid%3D555014%26algo%3DPL.DEFAULT%26ao%3D 1%26asc%3D44728%26meid%3D15a77d0daea94a878fa8f0e4e 7c3a346%26pid%3D100506%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26



White ones for reverse lights:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-Canbus-White-LED-1156-7506-Daytime-Running-Light-2013-DRL-/121392207768?hash=item1c438a1798:g:QHkAAOSwUmlTz5g B&vxp=mtr


Sizes are 1156/7506 for all bulb sockets in the tail lights for U.S. spec sedans.
Since I have genuine european BMW tails, mine came with the euro bulb carrier so my turn signal sockets are 7507. The 1156 bulb still works fine in this socket, I just have to twist it in a certain way for it to fit.

The one bulb type I haven't figured out yet is the sidemarker lights on the fenders. The ones I have aren't bright at all, and need to find ones that are super bright but still fit in the housing.

[nextelbuddy]

Amber ones:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pc-Amber-Canbus-1156-7506-5007-Amber-CREE-High-Power-LED-Turn-Signal-Light-Bulb/331323045620?_trksid=p2045573.c100506.m3226&_trkparms=aid%3D555014%26algo%3DPL.DEFAULT%26ao%3D 1%26asc%3D44728%26meid%3D15a77d0daea94a878fa8f0e4e 7c3a346%26pid%3D100506%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26



White ones for reverse lights:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-Canbus-White-LED-1156-7506-Daytime-Running-Light-2013-DRL-/121392207768?hash=item1c438a1798:g:QHkAAOSwUmlTz5g B&vxp=mtr


Sizes are 1156/7506 for all bulb sockets in the tail lights for U.S. spec sedans.
Since I have genuine european BMW tails, mine came with the euro bulb carrier so my turn signal sockets are 7507. The 1156 bulb still works fine in this socket, I just have to twist it in a certain way for it to fit.

The one bulb type I haven't figured out yet is the sidemarker lights on the fenders. The ones I have aren't bright at all, and need to find ones that are super bright but still fit in the housing.


i just bought the supposedly OEM RCR lights from the classified section. does that mean they are Euro? and in that case if so what do I need specifically? in regards to Corners and Tails and how many bulbs of each?

I ordered the Depo clear LED side marker lights that have amber leds integrated and depo clear corners as well from amazon since I had a $50 amazon credit to use.

[az3579]

i just bought the supposedly OEM RCR lights from the classified section. does that mean they are Euro? and in that case if so what do I need specifically? in regards to Corners and Tails and how many bulbs of each?

RCRs were only available in Europe, so RCRs are indeed considered "euro spec".
If your tails come with a euro bulb carrier, that carrier will require 7506/7507 bulbs (1156/1157 are compatible numbers). If it doesn't come with a carrier, you can reuse your carrier, which should use ALL 7506 (1156) bulbs.

The bulb configuration is the same as what you have now. The only differences are for the turn signal bulbs, and what you need depends on whether you're going LED.

Since you expressed interest in going the LED route, you will need at a minimum (these are totals between the two tail sections):
(2) Red LEDs (1156 fitment) for brake lights
(2) Amber LEDs (1156 for US bulb carrier, 1157 for euro bulb carrier) for turn signals
(2) White LEDs (1156 fitment) for reverse lights

Your running light bulbs will depend on whether you want to run LEDs for them. The issue I ran into with these is that they're way too bright if I stick LEDs in there. For some reason it doesn't adjust the brightness to half like it's supposed to, but instead like 80-90% brightness, which doesn't make sense. I don't know if there's a way to fix this through coding, but because I'm lazy, I am running incandescent bulbs for all bottom-row running lights. Since they're on all the time (mine are set to DRL) and they're cheap to replace, I figure these guys should remain incandescent on my car because it makes sense. They don't turn on/off, so they don't need to be LED.

You will need (6) bulbs for all bottom-row running lights. Whether they're incandescent or LED is totally up to you.



I ordered the Depo clear LED side marker lights that have amber leds integrated and depo clear corners as well from amazon since I had a $50 amazon credit to use.

Are your clear corners the LED variety, or just ones that take a standard bulb? If a bulb-type, then you will need (2) LED amber bulbs total.

[holyc0w]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Canbus-25W-210-Lumem-LED-CREE-XP-E-High-Power-1156-5008-Tail-Light-Bulb-Lamp-/231134019756?hash=item35d0a940ac:g:H0YAAOSwh6xTrly X&vxp=mtr

(Note: Recommend coding to eliminate cold/hot bulb checks to prevent flickering at startup - bulb out warning still works this way)

So how many would I need per light? I haven't confirmed yet which lights are out. But I changed to the parking light settings, and the bottom lights all seemed fine.

[az3579]

So how many would I need per light? I haven't confirmed yet which lights are out. But I changed to the parking light settings, and the bottom lights all seemed fine.

Look at the post right above yours... lol

[nextelbuddy]

so confused now lol sorry.

i may just run all my stock bulbs since im not getting this whole LED bulb thing.

the front corners are Parking lights AND turn signals but the rear turn signals are ONLY turn signals so how does that work?


also i should be able to use my US bulb carrier from my stock tail lights in the RCR housings right?

do they have to be CanBus bulbs??

amazon has similar bulbs but dont say Canbus on them.


Amber ones for front and im assuming i can just get 4 of these and run 2 in front and 2 in the back? wont they be too bright in the front corners as parking lights?

https://www.amazon.com/Amber-Ba15s-Ultra-Bright-Orange/dp/B00P7SFINY/ref=sr_1_3?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1498076222&sr=8-3&keywords=Amber+Canbus+1156&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011

and for brake/tail lights just run 4 of these?



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Canbus-25W-210-Lumem-LED-CREE-XP-E-High-Power-1156-5008-Tail-Light-Bulb-Lamp-/231134019756?hash=item35d0a940ac:g:H0YAAOSwh6xTrly X&vxp=mtr

[az3579]

so confused now lol sorry.

It's okay - it took me a few years to nail down the ideal LED bulb setup. It took numerous pairs of bulbs, with trial and error, to find ones that were 1) bright enough, 2) didn't cause issues with hyperflash/bulb out errors, and 3) were plug and play. Hopefully my experience can be of help.



the front corners are Parking lights AND turn signals but the rear turn signals are ONLY turn signals so how does that work?

Easy. The front lights stay dimmed when it parking light mode, and the rears only turn on when the turn signals/hazards are activated. The fronts are dimmed at about half brightness in parking light mode, and come on full brightness when the signals are activated. The rears just come on full brightness when they are activated.



also i should be able to use my US bulb carrier from my stock tail lights in the RCR housings right?

Yes.



do they have to be CanBus bulbs??

They really should be. Not using CANBUS bulbs will results in hyperflash and bulb out warnings in the OBC. The alternative is to run non-CANBUS bulbs with resistors, but that is more work and more hardware (resistors to wire in) - why do that when you can just buy plug and play CANBUS bulbs? :)


amazon has similar bulbs but dont say Canbus on them.

My best advice is to stay away from anything that doesn't say CANBUS on it, when it comes to bulbs that are monitored by the computer.
Keep in mind: the bulbs that the computer does NOT monitor and do NOT need to be CANBUS are: reverse lights, fog lights, sidemarkers (the small lights on the fenders). Everything else is monitored by CANBUS and should use appropriate bulbs to prevent bulb-out errors and hyperflash.

This is why I took the time to give you links to ones you can buy, so it can be a no-brainer. These are ones I've tested to be sufficiently bright for direct sunlight visibility, and also tested to make sure it plays nicely with the OBC.



Amber ones for front and im assuming i can just get 4 of these and run 2 in front and 2 in the back? wont they be too bright in the front corners as parking lights?

Yes, you can get 4 (2 front, 2 back). The fronts will not be too bright for parking lights because they will be dimmed, not at full brightness. They will only be full brightness when they are activated. They behave exactly the same as stock incandescent bulbs.



and for brake/tail lights just run 4 of these?

You will need 2 red ones for brake lights (one on each side). If you choose to do LEDs for running lights (the bottom row of lights), you will need 6 red ones total (3 per side). Please note that these may be too bright, as the system doesn't seem to dim them properly for running light mode when used in the tail light housings. I recommend against using LEDs for these and using incandescent bulbs for the running lights.

I'm not sure how different bulbs behave with this, but the ones I used for brake lights do not dim properly, which is why I ONLY use them for brake lights.

[ZHPizza]

This is awesome. Thanks, BP!

[holyc0w]

Okay so I checked. The rear left indicator is lit on the dashboard. When using the parking lights the bottom bulbs are fine. But when I hit the pedal one of the bottom strips does not light up, and on the opposing light the top bulb does not light up. Does this seem normal? I guess I should switch all 6?

[Edo]

Guys, I'm catching this thread as my CI has a bad circuit board with stock LED for the taillights. None are replaceable. What are my options, seeing bulbs being mentioned? Do the Euro cars use a different carrier?

[holyc0w]

I got the LED bulbs today and installed them. They are pretty bright. :biggrin

They fixed the bulb out error, and I didn't have any polarity issues. Though I may or may not have screwed up some of the coding for the LCM today. I could have sworn the running lights also lit up when pressing the brake pedal.

[az3579]

I got the LED bulbs today and installed them. They are pretty bright. :biggrin

They fixed the bulb out error, and I didn't have any polarity issues. Though I may or may not have screwed up some of the coding for the LCM today. I could have sworn the running lights also lit up when pressing the brake pedal.
Running lights are not supposed to light up when the brake is applied unless a brake light bulb is burned out (it "covers" it's absence) or you're hitting Brake Force Display.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[holyc0w]

That would explain it. Thanks

Can the center brake light be replaced with LEDs?